Excellence in Game Design, Bit Summit MMXIVBest of Technical Arts, Tokyo Game Show 2014Dengeki Online Excellence Award, Tokyo Game Show 20144Gamer Excellence Award, Tokyo Game Show 2014

Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you
should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“We have been working on Gangs of Space since 2012. Over these 5 years, we have released 30 alpha versions of the game to the public, and used the community feedback to shape the game as it exists now.

We are releasing Gangs of Space on Steam Early Access to:

gather more feedback, especially when playing with a great number of players

bring more competition to the seasonal ladders

find and fix server scaling issues

”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We expect around 6 months of Early Access.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“

more game content (playable ships, enemies...)

Steam achievements and cards

bug fixes and usability improvements

”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The current Early Access version is complete feature-wise, and fully playable on all supported platforms, including playing along with hundreds of other players.

There might be some performance issues on the server side when we reach thousands of simultaneous players, but we have all measures in place to quickly fix any problem that might occur in this case.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Right now, we don't have plans to change the price of the packs for release.

Some content of these packs will be exclusive for Early Access buyers though:

Early Access exclusive skins

the possibility to name game content (crews, sectors and systems)

the Shares in the Shark Investor Pack

”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We have been developing Gangs of Space using a lot of feedback from our community since 2012, and have already released 30 alpha versions to the public.

Play Gangs of Space

November 26, 2018

Gangs of Space was our child and became the prison of our hopes. Gangs of Space was a stroke of madness that arrived one day, or maybe a night, in Tokyo in the middle of an amusement arcade full of Shmup classics! Gangs of Space it was quite an adventure!

You have understood, it is with great regret that we announce today the upcoming closure of Gangs of Space.

Closing schedule

November 30, 2018: commercial closure (end of the sale of the DLC).

May 31, 2019: official servers and support closed.

And after ? Total blackout? We will see, but we can not guarantee anything and in any case, it will be outside of Steam.

Why do we close?

Maybe one day Erhune will have the courage to do a long post-mortem on the dev and the reasons for the end of Gangs of Space, but by then we will try to give you the main reasons:

No money! After all these years of work on Gangs of Space, the launch in Early Access and the reception of tens of thousands of players, we have never been able to pay us, not even a beer or a restaurant … nothing at all! We had made the choice to reinvest everything to self-finance the dev of the game (software, assets, hosting / server, freelance, administration, etc …). How did we manage to stay that long without going crazy? Maybe we already were ?!

No founding! But as it was not enough, we tried to find investors to finish GoS in V1, but even with a well advanced game and 70,000 players it was too risky for them.

No communication! It’s simple, in 2018 (and also in 2017), to talk about your game in the media, the norm is that you have to pay or that everyone is already talking about you … Totally despairing when you still want to make “different” games that nobody wants to finance.

No more energy! In the end, all this consumed our ultimate energy reserves. We will have tried many things (probably not as good as those who will give us advice) but now it was time to move on.

Commercial closure?

Because we do not want to sell a service that you do not really have time to use at your convenience, we prefer to close the purchase of DLC after this announcement.

This allows us to provide another 6 months of service for the last irreducible who would still like to enjoy a DLC Gangs of Space.

And we promise you, this time “the money of subscribers” who will take a DLC will only serve one thing: to pay us a beer and a good restaurant!

Thanks

After all these years we met many people without whom this project could not have gone so far and we wish to thank:b

First of all, thank you to the family! These relatives who have supported us all these years without understanding our determination to finish GoS. With them no judgment, no advice, but listening, love, and the good dishes of our mothers who comfort so much in times of doubt.

Right after, there is YOU, you the 70,000 players! From a few minutes to a few years, you played and participated with determination! Your feedback has been decisive in the evolution of the game. To have made a game that will have you passionate, amused, relaxed, raging, will be our greatest pride forever. Thank you 70,000 times!

And thanks to those active members of the community who are especially involved at all levels, wiki, moderation, community pillars, passionate evening streamers, etc … (no names for no jealous, but you will recognize ;-D)

-oTo-, our composer who has held all these years and whose work we loved.

Thanks to Aganon, Skywilly, Bestio and Seldell, from the websites Jeuxonline, Game Side Story et Indiemag. If the journalists and the Streamers were all like them, there is no doubt that you will not play at all the same way and many creators would have a greater chance to live from their work and offer you original games!

Thanks to the creators of Unity, the transition from Flash to this software has really changed our life and allowed a gigantic qualitative leap for GoS.

And finally thank you to all the devs, friends, some streamers, visitors on a show, star (like Richard Garriot or Zun) who have some day participated in their advice, their help, to make Gangs of Space.

Come and sign the big guestbook!

The closing of an MMO is always a special moment, it is the opportunity for the old players to nostalgically recall their best memories. For the occasion, two “Golden Books” are open on our official forum where you are invited to come and tell what GoS was for you, your memories, your anecdotes, even a screenshot?

This is a good question and we have studied the possibility but it is a big job. There are more legal reasons because we would not have the right to open some code blocks. In short, it is very complex.

Why was the game not sold? Users have value no?

An MMO that is not finished is very complicated to sell, it’s not like a solo game. It will be necessary to put hands in the code, take care of the servers, etc. So unless you have a huge community or a big marketing buzz around the project, nobody wants to get wet.

All hope is lost forever?

It is almost certain that neither Erhune nor Grouroux will ever work on Gangs of Space again. On the other hand if one day a serious team wishes to work on Gangs of Space and shows us that it has the capacity, one will study it with the greatest care.

About This Game

Gangs of Space is an indie Rogue Shmup MMO developed with love by Grouroux and Erhune.

Shmup

Part-Shmup, part-Hack'n Slash.

Your skill will be your important asset in order to avoid the myriad of enemy bullets. In addition, chosing the right abilities and equipment for your ship will transform you in a formidable space perdator.

But get your tissues ready: here, every death is permanent!

Roguelike RPG

Chose a ship among multiple classes, and level it over 10 quick levels. Create a unique build and optimize it by looting equipment from the fuming wrecks of your enemies.

Over time, you will complete class objectives and unlock new build choices that will enhance the possibilities of your next ships.

MMO conquest

The goal of Gangs of Space is simple: conquer the Galaxy in the name of the Empire! Whether you go solo-hunting or gather a squad of talented Gang-mates, the only important thing is that: conquer more and more sectors.

When the Galaxy is fully conquered, players and Gangs receive rewards based on their rank in various ladders. A new conquest campaign then starts, in a new unknown Galaxy.